What’s the rationale for SPEC?

Strengths: People thrive when their strengthsare acknowledged and appreciated. Concentrating on deficits diminishespeople’s dignity and alienates them.

Prevention: There will never be enoughhelpers to assist all those who need help. We need to concentrate onthe root causes of health, psychological and social problems. An ounceof prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Empowerment: Control, voice and choice are essential for well-being.

Community change: We can never eliminatesocial or emotional problems one person at a time. We need to work onthe very community and societal conditions that lead to problems in thefirst place

The SPEC-way

Promoting well-being: Time for a paradigm shift in health and human services (.pdf)

(Prilleltensky, 2005): This article argues that a singularfocus on strength, prevention, empowerment, or community conditions isinsufficient. It presents a framework for the conceptual integration ofthese four approaches, while illustrating the benefits of their synergyand the risks of their fragmentation. It is high time for a paradigmshift in health and human services, and this article argues that only anew approach that focuses on strengths, prevention, empowerment, andcommunity conditions can make considerable progress towards theachievement of well-being for all.